Lyme disease going undiagnosed

NBC
Published: October 22, 2008

While vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard, Kris Newby and her husband were each bitten by ticks and contracted Lyme disease.
“Our symptoms were a lot like if you had Alzheimer’s, arthritis and chronic fatigue all at the same time,“ said Newsby.

Now Kris is featured in a new documentary, “Under Our Skin”.

The film looks at the struggles of patients, like this young woman, to get an accurate diagnosis and treatment.

These books of medical records show that Kris herself saw ten doctors in a year before she was finally diagnosed.

Now she’s fighting to change that.

“20 years later, we have a really bad Lyme disease test that misses well over half of the positive cases, and we really need to re-look at this disease and redefine it with the new scientific information we have now,“ explained Newby.

The movie tells the story of “Jordan” a park ranger who struggled so long for an accurate diagnosis he ended up taking all these medications and spending thousands of dollars when two common antibiotics would have controlled his Lyme disease.

“Right now even if you get a diagnosis, which is difficult because the testing is so poor, it’s hard to get treated because so many physicians afraid to treat Lyme and the if you’re lucky enough to get the diagnosis and get somebody who can treat you, your insurance usually doesn’t cover it,“ said Producer Andy Abrahams Wilson.

Infected ticks transmit Lyme, a neurological disease.

The hope is this movie will help people nationwide get the medical attention they need fight the often debilitating disease.